LATEST HOMILY
4th SUNDAY of EASTER
May 11, 2025

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Focus: To Know Jesus is to Love Jesus!

Function: Come to know Jesus, not by who He is to the world and the Church, but who He is to us, personally.

Running Into the Arms of My Mother

I do not remember much as to what my younger years was like around the age of 4 to 6. But one of my fondest memories as little child, Was when I first started kindergarten, My mother would drop me off to school and she would head up north to the high school in Arthur’s Town where she taught. When school was done at 3:00pm I was the first one on the school bus heading to Arthur’s Town High School.  Not because I happy to get of school.  I was happy about getting to see my mother! Once the school bus stopped at the High School,  My Mother waited for me in front of the school, And I would run out of school bus screaming for my  Mother.  And she would be there with arms open screaming my name, just as overjoyed to see me after a long day of being separated all day. As a four-year-old, at the time, I did not know very much about my mother or father. The way I know them now, was different from the way I knew them at the age of four. And that love has not changed for neither my mother and Father. It has only grown. But here is the beautiful thing about the Love of a Parent! And a good one.  The minute their children are brought into their lives they love them with a love, that can only come from God! It is so immense.  It is so intense and so other worldly. It changes the person for the rest of their lives. When the new born or their newly adopted child is placed in their arms. It is like they have known that precious child forever. And to experience this reality of knowing one’s child,  Is not just knowledge of character or of their existence, when a parent says they know their children! Behind that word is Love! A Radical and unexplainable Love that only God Himself can understand! And at the age of four years old, having my mother wait for me at the school entrance at 3:30pm every Monday to Friday! Running up to her after school,  and hearing her call my name and picking me up off the ground, was profound evidence of my mother’s knowledge of me! Her profound Love for me! I did not know much about this woman whom I called Mummy at the tender age of 4! But I knew one thing for sure about her! She Loved me and still loves me with that same love! When Jesus says He knows His sheep and they know me! And no one can take them from His Hand! This is the Love He speaks of! 

Love That Knows Us!

When we enter into Our relationship with Jesus Christ,  our parents introduce us to Jesus through,  the waters of Baptism. We as His Sheep, His Flock come to know Him, As we learn more about our faith in Him.  And the more we place our faith in Him,  and learn of His works throughout Salvation History,  and His Salvation history in our lives, the more we are familiar with His voice. The more we are familiar with Him! The more we come to know Him! The more we come to love Him! But as we come to love Him more and more,  we are revealed that He has known us, and loved us from the very beginning! It is as Saint Augustine Says: Late have I loved you beauty ever ancient yet ever new. You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace. 

In other words, when we encounter Jesus for the first time, in freedom and full knowledge of His presence.  It is overwhelming, it is heart wrenching but at the same time a consolation no soul has ever felt.  You come to realize just like your parents,  God loved you from the very day you were conceived in your mother’s womb. And He even Loved you more than your,  parents or guardian ever could. And the voice of God is more than just a vocal vibration forming words. That voice of God that we come to know, is an interior movement of the heart,  that hits the very core of the soul. If you have ever been in spiritual turmoil,  and prayed to God for His help, you would know what His voice feels like. Not sounds, but how it feels.  It touches places no other Human Soul can touch!  Only Him! My friends, do not be afraid to let God Love you! Let Him Love everything about you! He already knows about you! So let Him Love all of you! Especially what you do not love about yourself! The voice of God, the Knowledge of God, the Love of God.  Is not there to judge! The soul that receives judgement from God, is the Soul that never aloud God to know them and them God! His voice is one of mercy, one of love and one of redemption and healing. If you want to know what that is like. Imagine a person after they have passed from this life. Finally getting ready to meet the Lord. They have waited just like the 4-year-old Father Devereaux to see his Mommy after a long day. It is only now they have waited their whole life to be reunited with the Lord. And as they reach the gates of Heaven. There is the Good Shepherd with open arms. And the soul of that just person running into the arms of the shepherd. Who calls them by name! Shouting out their name in joy and elation!He lifts them up and takes them Home to eternal Kingdom of Heaven! To be together forever! That’s the voice of God, The Knowledge of God, The Love of God! Amen!